Invincible
by Wasting words
Summary: Read and find out. My summary is way too long!
1. Chapter 1

She woke up to the unpleasant screeching of her alarm clock. A long arm emerged from the covers to turn the cursed machine off. With a groan, the eighteen year old pulled herself out of bed. A new school, a new state, fanfreakingtastic.

_'If you can even called Canada a state. . .'_

6:30 in the morning had come earlier than she had expected, the night hadn't been easy and it had been a battle for sleep. She walked over to her unpacked dufflebag, pulling out a clean pair of jeans and a plain tank top with a plaid DC logo smack in the middle. She pulled the curtians back, being welcomed to a wonderful, fresh blanket of snow. Clearly, she had underestimated her wardrobe. Oh well, she would be running late soon. No time to dig for warm clothes now.

"Bentley," she called softly, walking over to the pop out playpin she'd be using double time as a crib. "Bently, wake up buddy. Time for mom to go to school." She reached into the crib to pull the sleeping boy out. Moving to this God forsaken place had messed up the childs sleep schedule, and it would surely be hell getting him back on a proper one once they were settled in.

She laid him on the bed, a quick diaper change, pants and a plain, long sleeved top would settle for now. She didn't think this out; how could she get ready for school and watch him when we woke up? She let out an exasperated sigh, holding him in one hand and dragging the play pin/crib into the small bathroom with her.

She stood in front of the mirror, readying her tooth brush as she waited her straightner to warm up. She really studied herself in the mirror. Long auburn hair, falling past her shoulders in loose, natural curls and bright blue-green eyes colored eyes; her son looked nothing like her. He took over his father's looks, ew. Not to say her little man wasn't handsome, because he was, of course every mother says that about their child. She could only hope he didn't _turn out _like his father. . .

A small cooing caught her attention, he was up. He stood as best he could, holding onto the railing of the pin for support. She couldn't help but smile, lifting him out of the crib and onto the counter. "Hey dude, it's about time you woke up." She laughed, running her fingers gently thru his soft blonde hair. He wasn't a big fan of having his hair played with, so as usual, he grabbed his mother's fingers with his tiny hands and stuck them in his mouth, making it quite difficult to finish up her morning routine.

7:15. She was cutting it close. Now in a hurry she put on a light layer of make up, threw on her flimsy excuse for a jacket, put Bentley in his car seat and ran to her car.

...

"Come on, you stupid thing.." she muttered, listening for her car to turn over. The engine sputtered, died, sputtered and died. "Ugh, come on, seriously?" She cranked the engine one last time before the car, obviously not used to rigid temperatures, finally started.

...

She was late, but she had made it. Degrassi Community School, the building had read in bold, proud lettering. Her mother told her this place had a day care center but her mother was about as reliable as her old car.

Backpack over on shoulder, Bentley's car seat in the other hand, she made her way into the school. She'd wandered for a few minutes until she found Mrs. Kwan's classroom. _'This is it...'_ Setting Bentley's car seat on the ground, she knocked on the door frame and stood there.

The teacher, Mrs. Kwan apperantly, breifly glanced over her shoulder, bringing the attention of the whole classroom with her. "Can I help you?" SHe gave the red head a once over.

"My mom said there was a day care center here?"

_A/N: This is just a small snippet. Yes, this will be set in 11-12th gradish because I like it that way. Don't like it, don't read. If you've followed my other stories, you know I love me some OCxcanon action, because frankly, I don't much care for the girls paired up with this particular character. Do forgive me though, if I'm a little out of character. I just got back into Degrassi. _


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: I'm do apologize for all the typos in the first chapter. Being the dork I am, I totally skipped over spell check as it were. :( I've decided that I'll have Jaycee post entries in her journal as the days go by, almost narrating her life, as it were. Hope this doesn't confuse you, her "entries" will be seperated from the story _**like this**_.

Disclaimer; I own nothing. :) 'Cept Jace and Bent. Shane Kippel can own me anytime, however. Haha. Anyway, on with the story!

Mrs. Kwan stared over at her, the question catching her off guard. "I'm sorry, your mother must have been ill informed," Her soft gaze travled down the the car seat clenched tightly in her hands. Her eyes went wide and Jaycee could tell. She knew Mrs. Kwan wasn't comfortable with Jaycee being a teen mother and the fact that she brought her child to school under her mom's false information didn't make that fact any easier to accept. She took long strides, cheap, black heels clicking on the floor on the way to her desk. She grabbed a the attendance paper and skimmed over it, "Osborne, Jaycee Rae right?"

Jaycee nodded, setting the car seat down to relieve her right arm. Toting around a car seat with a growing child was quite the work out. "I'm sorry, I'm an idiot. I can find a day care then come back."

Kwan shook her head, "No, no. You're already graduating a year late, you can't afford to miss anything further. Your child can stay in class for today, and at lunch you can drop him off. I understand he's little but please, try to keep interuptions minimal. Take the empty seat behind Mr. Mason, next to Liberty.

_**Awesome. My first day in a new school and I look like an irresponsible idiot. Fan-freaking-tastic. Thanks a lot, Mom. **_

Sure, the fact Degrassi's newest student showed up with her child as a fashion accessory made her uncomfortable but she couldn't deny a probably single, teenage mother an education in all good conscience. Not to mention it was the law, and Hatzilakos would have her fired from the teaching gig so quickly, it would knock her into next Wednesday. She watched carefully as the red headed girl picked up her child, car seat and all, and wandered to her permanent spot.

"So, as I was saying..."

Jaycee could hear the whispers, sitting the car seat down next to her chair. She could hear every, single nasty rumor ready to be spread as she took out a purple notebook and mechanical pencil.

_Bringing your child to school? Now THAT is the ultimate fashion accessory._

_Where's her baby daddy? Baby daddy, please! She probably doesn't have one. The easy ones always get pregnant first! _

She bit down on her lip, hard, entangling a hand in her red tresses in attempts to tune out the evil whispers. When she'd gotten pregnant at seventeen, everyone talked. They talked until Jaycee went into premature labor, and they still talked. No concern for her and the baby though, they'd all skipped concern and started more rumors. Even if Jaycee had a day care for Bentley, word would eventually get out. And guess what? People would still talk.

Jaycee was strong, though. She had to be, for her and her son. All she could do was put on her brave face and carry on.

The mocha skinned girl beside her wore a scowl on her face, turning so the other girls would see she meant business. People had talked about Liberty, too. About her pregnancy, about the adoption, about J.T... Liberty, out of all people, would understand and felt she was the perfect person to befriend a teen mom like herself. "Ignore them. They're all pathetic girls, looking to enrich their pathetically boring lives. I'm Liberty." She gave a warm, friendly smile.

When your a mother, teenage or not, you can pick up on the 'Mom' vibes radiating off another mother and these vibes were dripping of this Liberty girl. Perhaps that's what compelled her to accept her friendship offer. Jaycee looked over, untangled a hand from the hair and smiled dryly at the girl who had been kind enough to offer words of reassurance. "Jaycee,"

"How old is he?"

"He's eight months." She answered, running a hand through her side swept bangs with another small smile. She searched through her diaper bag for a pacifier for her son, who was starting to awaken.

"He's cute. . ." Her voice trailed off, "Wha-"

The blonde headed boy in front of Jaycee turned around, wearing a big goofy grin on his face. She presumed him to be Gavin and she could just tell by his round, dumb face that he was going to get on her nerves.

"Hey, I'm Gavin, but everyone around here calls me Spinner."

Jaycee stared blankley, shrugging her shoulers. "Okay...so?" So maybe she was little. . . mean at times. Jaycee wasn't exactly what you would call a 'people person.' She didn't have time to be a people person. And, not to be over dramatic and whiney or anything, but her last relationship-with the guy who so happened to be baby B's dad-had sort of made her that way. 'Specially towards guys.

Spinner continued his smile. Was he put off? Hell, no! He had questions, he wanted answers and wouldn't stop until he got them. He didn't mean to brag but he could make the nicest girl of the meanest. After all, he did bag some of Degrassi's hottest girls.

"Is that your son?"

Perhaps he really was that stupid, perhaps he was playing dumd to make conversation. He could be a genuinely nice guy but what did that matter? Jaycee didn't have the _time_ for 'genuinely nice guys.' His cluelessness made her laugh, "No, I just carry him around so people will ask me stupid questions like that," she rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Obviously he's mine."

"Alright, alright. That's all I wanted to know." He gave her a half smile and turned back around in his chair. He'd work on her. He was sort of at a loss for friends right now, any how. His relationship with Jimmy had just been renewed and it was still a bit on the awkward, rocky side at the moment.. Besides it was nice to talk to someone else who wouldn't be graduating on time, either.

Liberty shook her head, "Yeah, that's Spinner. You can ignore him too, if you'd like. He's really a pain in the-" Interuppted again. This time, by a knock at the door.

Kwan didn't turn around this time, as a tall, pretty blonde woman poked her head through the door. "Sorry to interuppt, Mrs. Kwan but can I steal Jaycee for the remainder of the hour? I can assign her her books in my office."

"Jaycee, Mrs. Hatzilakos would like a word." Jaycee nodded, quickly shoved her things into her backpack, grabbed Bentley and raced out of the door.

Thank God for that.

Spinner turned around in his chair, watching Jaycee disappear down the long, empty halls. She was difficult, alright. He chuckled to himself, "That girl's trouble."

"No she's not, Spinner," she looked him then down the hall, "She just needs a friend."

...

"Jaycee, I'm Mrs. Hatzilakos." She wore a warm and friendly smile on her face, extending her hand to Jaycee.

Jaycee took a ginger hold, giving a weak shake. "Can I set him on your desk?"

"No, not at all. He's a cutie, what's his name?" She wiggled a finger in Bentley's face, cooing soft words at him, making him smile, laugh and wave his arms excitedly.

"His name is Bentley, he's eight months, and yes, he is mine."

Mrs. Hatzilkaos laughed softly, pulling out the file on Jaycee, "Well, Jaycee, I'm Mrs. H, the principal here at Degrassi. You've come at an odd time in the school year, it's surprising you didn't lose your whole year."

Jaycee sighed, "Yeah, I know. Things just got...complicated at home after my pregnancy."

Mrs. Hatizlakos nodded, "You know what? None of that matters. You're here now, making a better life for you and your son. Here at Degrassi, we do the utmost possible to help all of our students graduate and move onto better things," She opened up the file, looking closer at it, "So we know you'll be graduating with next years class. Do you have any plans for college?"

She shrugged, she'd never given any thought to it really. She figured hopes of college went down the drain with the birth of her son. "I don't know. I don't even know if I'll make it through senior year. My mom told me there was a day care center here, since there obviously isn't, I don't have a sitter for Bentley."

Mrs. H's expression changed from happy to concerned in the blink of an eye. A concerned look rode her face, making her look older than she was. She gently took Jaycee's hands in her own, looking her dead in the eye, "Being a teen mom is hard, I know it can be. But your descion to continue high school clearly shows that you're a dedicated mother but without even a high school education, I'm afraid it'll only get harder for you and your son. I'll give you number of a reliable sitter I know personally, she's a close friend of mine. You're not dropping out of school on my watch, I can promise you that." She dug thru the drawers of her desk to retrieve her address book. She pulled a piece of paper from her "From the desk of D. Hatzilakos" notepad and jotted down the name and number, and slid it Jaycee's way. "She runs her day care from her home and considering your circumstances, she won't charge much. Let me grab your books and I'll write you a note to your next class."

Jaycee took the piece of paper to store the number in her phone. This would make life easier, if she could afford it. Mrs. Hatizlakos placed a stack of heavy looking books in front of them for Jaycee to pack away.

Jaycee stood up, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. She grabbed her son and began walking out of the office.

"And Jaycee?"

Jaycee stopped to look over her shoulder.

"If you have any questions or problems, you can come to me. My doors always open."

She nodded with a smile, "Thanks Mrs. H."

...

Her next few classes flew by. Her teachers were fine with Bentley in the classroom for the hour. Well, most of them anyway. She stood in the overly crowded cafeteria, with the chatter and shouts from the other students she could barely her herself think. She couldn't feed Bentley in here, no way. _Great. . ._

"Jaycee!" Liberty called out, holding her lunch over her head to push through the crowd of grade 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders. "How were the rest of your classes?" She had to shout in order to be heard.

"Is there anywhere else we can go? It's way to loud in here for Bentley!"

Liberty nodded, taking the lead, as per usual Liberty nature. Jaycee followed suit, avoiding all the idiots trying to push way around her. She followed Liberty until they reached an empty classroom. Liberty knocked on the door, watching through the window for a tall, balding man to greet them with a smile and unlock the door.

"Ms. Van Zandt, how nice to see you again. You just can't keep away from your work can you?"

"No, sir Mr. S. The greats never took a break, so why should I?" She smiled brightly. Clearly, she was a teachers pet and she probably had been her entire school career, Jaycee had figured. But she seemed nice enough, Jaycee just needed to figure out her story. Again, the whole Mom to Mom vibe thing.

"Because your president of the student council Liberty, not president of the world." The balding man laughed heartily. Jaycee was sure she would have him as a teacher. Kids all over Degrassi couldn't stop talking about him, she'd heard his name over 100 times in the halls today. "I'm going to go grab some lunch but I'll be back before you know it. If Gavin happens to pass by, remind him he's in for a little quality lunch time with good ol' Mr. Simpson today."

"This is the Media Immersion lab. It's a key course, so you'll meet Mr. Simpson at some point today. You'll love him; he's Degrassi's best."

Jaycee smiled with a curt nod, pulling out an extra chair with her foot to place Bentley's car seat on it. She smiled at her now wide awake son, pulling out a container of yogurt and a bottle of formula for him. "I think someone's hungry!" She ripped off the tin wrapper of the yogurt and dipped the spoon in before feeding it to him.

"So Liberty," she began, wiping at her sons' messy face, "What's your story?"

Liberty stopped, sandwhich nearly falling out of her hand. How did she know? She hadn't been here that long, no one could have told her. "My story?"

"Yeah. Mom's kind of have this pyscic abilitly to pinpoint other moms," she shrugged, "It weird but true story. And besides no body wants to be friends with a teen mom if she's not one herself."

Liberty shrugged herself, no one really asked since what happened with J.T. "My story? It's a complicated one. . .Not the best chapter in my life, actually." Giving up her son was the hardest choice she ever had to make, she hadn't talked to hardly anyone about it, never got the closure she needed. She was silent, a wave of hurt and sadness collapsed over her.

"Oh I'm sorry.." Jaycee apologized, feeling like the biggest douche in the world. Her guilt caught her off guard, she didn't see Bentley knock the spoon out of her hand and fling yogurt all over the floor. That was his way of saying, I'm done Mom, for the lack of his inability to talk yet.

"It's okay, you had no way of knowing," She handed off a napkin to Jaycee, "C-can I hold him?" She asked shyly. She missed her son. She would never get to hold _her _son. She had to keep reminding herself that adoption was the best for her child at the time but as true as that may be, the right thing to do would never replace her feelings of missing her own son.

"Yeah," Jaycee smiled, a real smile. "He really likes new people, ecspecially girls. He's already a little flirt.." she turned to her son, pulling him out of the car seat. "Bentley, look, Mommy found a new friend for you." She pointed towards Liberty, and Bentley's face lit up and he started babbling on excitedly.

Liberty smiled, taking the baby boy in her arms, tickling his chin, as Jaycee got on all fours to clean up her child's mess. "Hey, buddy." She said softly, stroking his cheek softy. Immedietly, he grabbed Liberty's fingers, proceeding to stick them all over in his mouth. It was the cutest thing she'd ever seen. That could be her son... God, did she miss him.

"He likes you, I can tell." She smiled, taking her sons free hand in her own.

"Ah, Mr. Mason, so nice to see you. Fifteen minutes late." Mr. Simpson scowled, patting Spinner's shoulder as they walked into the MI lab in unison.

"Sorry, Mr. S. Long lunch line, you know. But I showed up, right?" Spinner laughed. Always the class clown. Gavin Mason was always the really annoying yet likeable kid, always in trouble with the teachers but never for long.

Jaycee rolled her eyes, how wonderful! Her _favorite _person had just walked in. He only smiled at her as he plopped down in the unoccupied seat next to the girls. "So what are you in for? Let me guess, trumped up charges right?"

"No, actually, just needed a place to feed my son." She kept the conversation as short as possible. Liberty was definitely the only person she wanted to befriend in her own person Al Catraz.

Liberty also rolled her eyes at Spinner, handing Bent back to Jaycee. "Thanks, but I've gotta run. Student council never stops and neither do I. Text me later." Liberty smiled before leaving her alone with Spinner.

He had opened his mouth to speak but Jaycee cut him off promptly, "His name is Bentley, he's eight months old, and he doesn't like guys so tough luck."

"Haha, really? What makes you think I want to hold the little guy? And I'm pretty sure he'd like me. I'm a likeable guy! If you'd give me a chance, you would know that." He bantered on, in a joking manner. Friends. Liberty said all she needed was a few friends. He needed friends. It was perfect.

Jaycee gave him a questionable look, "I doubt that."

Spinner sighed, "Okay, humor obviously isn't your thing. Your new and I just figured you could use a few friends. That's all I'm trying to do is be nice and maybe even be your friend. You know, talk in class, maybe even walk to a few classes together." Spinner was the kind of guy people had a hard time taking seriously. What with the joking and his happy outlook on life. Right now, he was being serious. All he wanted was a friend.

Jaycee nodded, "Well thanks, I guess. But you'll have to try to 'be my friend' later, I have to drop him off at day care before lunch is over." Be her friend, what kind of bullshit was that?

_**Okay, Jaycee, maybe its not bullshit. I could at least try and make one friend besides Liberty. Not today, though. :) **_

...

The rest of the day had went smoothly for her. Classes seemed easy, Liberty was in the majority of her classes. She liked Liberty. Liberty seemed nice and lets face it, the way Jaycee was to other people she'd never had a real friend. They'd all abandoned her once she got knocked up, they were big on beer kegs, not babies. She used to be like that. If she hadn't had Bentley, she would still be like that.

She was excited, though, to get the hell out of that rat hole and pick up him up from day care. She was excited. . .until her car crapped out on her again. How frusterating it was going to be to fight with her cluncker of a car every day. Good luck getting this thing to work, though. She better find a job somewhere close. . .

"Come on, please, please start." She muttered to herself, cranking the key over and over and over and over. . .

"Later, man!" Spinner laughed, completing the secret handshake he and Jimmy had always had. He was glad Jimmy had forgiven him, it must have taken a lot for him. For that, for having his best friend back, he would be eternally greatful. Jay could be great. Most times they were cool and Spinner knew Jay had his back no matter what. Then there were the moments Jay was a complete jerk off, filled with bonehead ideas and Spinner wanted to strangle him. Literally, just reach right over, wrap his big hands around Jay's skinny neck and squeeze until he couldn't breath anymore. But Jay was no replacement for Jimmy, not by any means.

He continued his pace, smile long since faded. It was nice to have a license. He heard Jaycee cursing at her car from a mile away. "A liscense and a car that actually works." He muttered to himself before walking over to her car, resting his arm on the roof of it.

She gave him an annoyed look, "Ugh, what do you want now?"

Spinner smiled, patting the roof of her car, "Doesn't look like you're going anywhere soon. C'mon, I'll give you a ride home."

Her head snapped up in frustration, "I have to get my son and stop at the grocery store. My car will start, I don't _need_ your help.

"And I'm somehow incapable of doing that? Come on Jaycee, your embarassing me." He laughed, gently pulling her out of the car by her elbow. "This is what friends do for each other."

They weren't friends.

"But what about my car? Spinner!" He didn't know her well enough to insisit something like that. But really, what choice did she have? Her car was on its last wheel and she couldn't leave her son in some strange womans house until it decided to start, _if_ it decided to start.

"We can come back for it, I know someone who can tow it for you free of charge and everything. Just get in the car." He said in a very matter of factly tone, opening the passenger side door for her. She was a tough cookie, that's for sure. But Spin was just a nice guy like that.

"So where am I goin'?"

...

Spinner slowed for the last red light before the day care center. The ride had been quiet and awkward, Jaycee wore a deadly look on her face the whole time. Spinner would get a thank you out of this by the end of the day, he hoped.

"It's right there." She jerked her finger to a huge house on the upcoming street.

"Here we are, do you want me to come in with you?"

She shook her head, "Pretty sure I can handle walking to the door."

Spinner chuckled and shrugged, "Whatever you say, Jace." He watched as she walked up to the house, knocking on the door. His car was a mess. He turned around in his seat, shoved everything on the seat behind him until he thought there was enough room for a car seat behind the passenger seat. He even pushed the seat up for her. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and ran the ball of his tongue ring back and forth over his lips so much that it came unscrewed, falling off and causing him to nearly swallow it. (A/N: I do that all the time. Haha.) He grabbed it between the tips of his fingers and screwed it back on, right as Jaycee emerged from the house, car seat hanging in the crook of her elbow.

The wind violently whipper her hair everywhere, including on her face many times causing her to wipe it away. The same was happening to the blanket placed over the rest of the car seat. Either the place she moved from had no winter or it wasn't nearly as bad as Canada's.

"God damn its cold." She shivered, reaching to place Bentley in the back seat and secure him. She removed the blanket from his face, planting a kiss on his cheek. Spin watched from the rear view mirror, smiling slightly to himself. She was a good mother.

"Ready to rock?" He looked over at her as she climbed into the passengers seat. He couldn't help but notice that her son looked nothing like her, "Dude, your kid looks nothing like you."

Jaycee bit her lower lip, "You noticed? He has my nose, I think. And my lips. But yeah, he for sure looks like his douche bag father."

Spinner raised his eyebrows in amusement. He liked that. He could respect a girl with a mouth like that. Prissy was nice but that's all Spinner's past girlfriends were, not that Spinner was looking to get a relationship out of this. Strictly friends. "Where to now?"

Jaycee was shocked. He didn't bother her with questions about Bentley's father, her boyfriend of three years prior to her pregnancy. "Any grocery store, whatever on is closest."

"There's one just right over there," he stretched his arm over to Jaycee's side, wrapping it around the passenger seat and looked behind him, checking if it was safe to back up. He threw his car in reverse and backed out slower than he normally would. He backed out into the street, until it was safe, set his car back in drive and took off. It was literally kitty corner to this lady's house.

It was a busy day but that store was always busy. He had to circle the parking lot about three times before finally finding a _good_ parking spot. It was a very good parking spot, right in front of the store.

She glanced over at Spin before getting Bentley out of the back seat, "Let me guess, you want to come in with us don't you?" She'd meant that to come off as sarcastic, really she did. But as Spinner had said, humor wasn't her thing. At least she tried right?

"Uh yeah, I'd rather not freeze my balls off."

_**All guys deserve to have their balls frozen off..**_

It was warm in the store, it was a nice change from the below zero temperatures outside. She pulled out a cart and flung the child seat open, placing the car seat snuggly in there. "Okay, so we need formula and diapers."

Spinner nodded, taking the cart for himself. He'd like pushing carts, ever since he was old enough to see over one. One of the best memories he had with his dad was when they'd always go grocery shopping on Sundays and he'd always let him push the cart. Even when Spinner wasn't quite tall enough to see over it, his dad would help him push it.

...

Spinner had never knew how many brands of diapers there were, he'd never really noticed until now. There were other parents in the aisle. Of course, they were much older than Jaycee and himself. They all gave off criticzing looks, whispering to each other about how they shouldn't have a kid when they were still kids themselves. The looks from the students of Degrassi after he confessed he had a part in what happened to Jimmy were much, much worse. He could take it but the looks from all the other parents had gotten to him a bit. Bentley wasn't his son and even if he were, who were they to say they were to irresponsible to have a child? He wanted to shout at them.

Jaycee glanced over her shoulder, watching the thoughts running through Spinner's head play across his face. She felt bad, putting him through this. Jaycee had eight months to get used to unwelcomed stares from passers-by. There were few people in this world who agreed with teenagers keeping there kids. Well, he was the one who wanted to come in...

"Um hello? Can I get a little help here?" She snapped, pulling Spinner away from his thoughts. His head snapped up, he didn't even noticed she was too short to reach the brand she needed.

"Ba-ba-ba," Bentley started up, flailing his arms excitedly at the strange man hovering over him. Bentley knew who his father was, despite him only sticking around for a few weeks after he was born. His big blue eyes stared up at Spinner in wonder, his 'ba-ba-ba's' increasing. He was trying to get his attention. Spinner smiled down at him, "Hey lil dude." He spoke softly to the boy. "Oh, did you need something Jace?"

Jaycee nodded sharply, pointing up at the box of diapers sitting so unconveinently on the top shelf. He was going to make a smug remark about her shortness but, well, he'd save it for later. He took one long stride to the shelf, effortlessly grabbing the box. Handing it to Jaycee, he said "Here you go, shorty."

Jaycee rolled her eyes, snatching the box from his hands. Damn genetics for making her so short. "I thought you said he didn't like guys." He smirked, letting Bentley wrap his tiny hand around his finger.

"Yeah, well by the time he decides to give your finger back it'll be covered in baby spit so ha." She snorted, scrambling around her bag for her wallet. Notebook, pencil, phone, assigned reading for Kwan's class. . .she plunged her arm in further. Ah, there it was. She retrieved her wallet, throwing her bag in the cart for the time unzipped it, pulling the cash out. She counted under her breath. Ten, fifteen, twenty. . .wait, twenty? "Are you effing kidding me?" Effing wasn't the word she really wanted to say but she never, ever swore in front of her son. She definitley didn't want her son's first word to be 'fuck.'

"What? What's wrong?" Spinner asked, swaying his hand back and forth to keep Bent entertained. He didn't have much expeirence with kids, especially babies but he thought he was going pretty good with this.

Jaycee let out an exasperated sigh, pushing her bangs back with her hand, "I'm thought I had $40 in here but I'm obviously too retarded to count my money before I leave my house. I'm short twenty bucks. And that's only enough to buy diapers but he needs formula too." Since having Bentley, Jaycee had become such a high stress person. Any little mishap was bound to make her break out in a stress rash.

"Dude, chill. It's okay," he used his free hand to dig into his back pocket and pull out some of the tip money he made from last nights shift at the Dot. He held the money out for her to take, "I got you covered."

She shook her head, "No, Spinner, I can't take that." She made an attempt to push his hand away but he'd moved it just in time.

"Seriously, dude. It's no problem, its just tip money. I'll make it back tonight." He reassured, holding the money out for her to take.

Jaycee _hated_ accepting peoples help. She made it through pregnancy on her own, she bought a car on her own and she'd raised her son for eight months on her own. She refused to take money from a boy she barely met.

Spinner smiled and rolled his eyes, "Jaycee just take the money. I have a job and this isn't even a third of my tips. Take. The. Money." He slapped the money into her hand. He wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer.

"Okay, okay, fine. But stop helping me after this." She huffed, shoving the money into her wallet. Jaycee had always been very independent and very, very stubborn. Even when she gave in to the fact she did need help, her pride would never allow it.

"Whatever."

...

"Is this it?" He asked, pulling into the parking lot of crappy looking hotel. "This is where your staying?" He hoped this wasn't where she was staying, no body deserved to stay in this hotel, more or less stay with a child.

Jaycee nodded, "Yep. It's just temporary though, just until our aparment is ready." _Lie._

"Uh-huh. Where's the apartment at?"

"Oh, um, I always forget. Somewhere by the school?" _Another lie. _

"Sweet," he muttered to himself, turning his car off. He popped the trunk to retrieve the groceries out of it as Jaycee grabbed the car seat. She walked to the back of the car as Spinner closed the trunk. They exchanged glances, and Spinner held out the grocery bags to her in exchange in the car seat. "Trade ya." He said with a smile.

...

Being the gentlemen he is, he carried Bentley up the hotel room for her, though he had to put up quite the convincing argument to do so. She slid the door key in the door, watching the lights go from red to yellow to green. _Beep, beep, beep._ She pushed the door open and grabbed the car seat from Spinner's hands.

Spinner stayed in by the door, watching as Jaycee set the Bentley's carseat down by the bed. He walked into the tiny kitchen area, setting the bags down on the table. The annoying stock ringtone blared from Jaycee's pockey as she about to pull Bentley out of the carseat. 'Mom' sprawled across the screen in large, digital letters. She scowled at the phone before she answered it.

"What do you want, Mom?"

**"Jaycee, you were supposed to call me and tell me if you made it there okay."**

"I answered the damn phone, didn't I?"

**"How is it there? Have you been taking your meds like you're supposed to?"**

"Mom, I quit taking those after Bentley was born. You would know that if you weren't too busy trying to get rid of me."

**"Honey, you know its for the best. Things are still cooling down here."**

"Cooling down from _what_, exactly, Mom? Nothing happened, except I had a baby," Knowing Spinner was still lingereing somewhere in the room she lowered her voice. The last thing she wanted was for him to hear her personal life. "Nothing happened except I had a son, your _grandson_, and you couldn't handle that so you packed us away to some crummy hotel in Canada. So just quit, Mom. Keep telling your stupid boyfriend and your stupid friends I moved away, had an abortion or whatever is your telling them and **stop calling me.** We're here now and we're fine. We're _**fine!**_" She yellled into the phone, hurling it into the wall. What a wonderful mother she had, right? The impact of the phone hitting the wall made a large booming sound, scaring Bentley and causing him to burst out into frightened tears.

"Jace, is everything okay?" Spinner spoke up, walking into the uh, 'living room' area of the hotel.

"Oh, shit," she rushed over to Bentley, pulling him out of the carseat and into her arms to sooth him, "I'm sorry, B. Mom didn't mean to scare you, its okay boo bear." She whispered, stroking the back of his head. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just my mom being my mom."

He didn't believe her, that she could tell. Oh, well, though. She didn't have to explain anything to anyone, she didn't plan on it. Spinner bit his lip, a concerned look on his face. He took two long strides over the night stand, taking the complimentary pen in his hand and uncapping it with his mouth. He quickly jotted his name and number down on the receipt from the store.

"Um, just text me so I have your number. I can call you when your car is ready."

She nodded, walking behind Spinner to the door. "So I'll see you later than, I guess?"

"Yeah, later."

...

It only took her an hour to get Bentley to sleep. She fixed him up a bottle of formula, changed him into his favorite dinosaur pajamas and laid him on the bed with her, playing and cuddling him as he fell asleep. She picked up the sleeping boy, rubbing his back gentley before placing him in the play pin next to her bed. She hovered over it for a few moments, rubbing his little tummy. It was tough at times, it really, really was but when it all came down to it, she loved being his mother. That little boy was her whole world and she loved him with her whole heart.

What a rough first day. She walked into the bathroom, drawing herself a bubble bath. Bentley was only a few feet away, she would hear him if he woke up and she could see him from the bathroom anyway. Bubble baths were one of Jaycee's little joys. Her only true friend from the state she used to live in had a child, too though she was four years older than Jaycee. They were best friends, brought together by pregnancy. While Beci was pregnant, she used this amazing aromatherapy bubble bath she swore by and she bought Jaycee a bottle of it for she, herself had moved to a different state. The bubbles were for stress reliefe, something Jaycee needed after having a kid and being booted from her house. She glanced at the receipt holding Spin's chicken scratch writing, she could barely make out the numbers. One more thing she needed to do before she could relax and soak in her tub. She flipped her phone open to the QWERTY keyboard that lay hidden underneath, fingers moving rapidly to get the information entered.

Create message; add recepient; contacts; Spinner.

**It's Jaycee. Thanks, for everything.**

Send.

Returning from the bathroom, she stripped from her clothes and submersed her body into the warm, foamy heaven. She set her phone on the edge of the tub, careful not to knock it into the water. That would be very, very bad. She let out a sigh of relief, sinking deeper into the water before her text message alert went off. He'd texted her back instantly.

**No problem. :) What are you and baby boy doing tonite?**

At that moment she realized, she was getting to close, to comfortable.

A/N: I know you guys are probably like WTF? cause I took this chapter down and put it back up, but I have to say I'm much, much, MUCH more pleased with this one than the orignal. If you've read it before, I hope you liked the change. I felt the first draft was really sucky and lame. And no, I'm not trying to rush Spinner and Jaycee into a relationship. He just wants friends remember?


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hello lovely fanfction-ers! I'm back and in this chapter, I'll probably give Jace a little make over because I realized you all probably picture Ellie. O.o And also a big thank you to my new two subbies. Is that what you call them on fanfiction? Followers? Meh, oh well. Thanks anyways, guys! Now on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I still own nothing except Jaycee and Bent, blah, blah, legal stuff, blah.**

Jaycee sat quietly in her seat in English class, chin resting in the palm of her hand, one leg crossed over the other. She was proud of herself, she made it from the hotel to Bentley's day care to Degrassi with plenty of time to spare. She had Spinner to thank for that, he'd dropped off her car around ten thirty last night and it was running like a champ. She smiled slightly at that thought, without him, she'd be royally screwed. 'Guess I do have to be nice to him now. . .' she muttered to herself, closing her eyes momentarily.

"Jaycee, how are you this morning?" Liberty bounced into the seat next to Jaycee, scaring her out of her witts.

"Jesus, you scared me." Jaycee said, composing herself the best she could.

Liberty refrained herself from laughing out loud, "Sorry, Jace."

Jaycee exhaled deeply, pushing her thick, square frames up onto the bridge of her nose. She'd been too lazy to put in contacts this morning. "Alright, I guess. It was a long night." She turned to look over at Liberty, showing her the dark circles flaunting themselves triumphantly underneath her eyes as proof. She put pounds of concealer on this morning but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. While she'd been waiting for Mister Annoyingly Helpful to bring her car around, she decided her hair was very much in need of something new. As embarrassing as it was for her to admit, Jaycee was very good with hair. Aside from her being a mother, it was really the only thing she was good at. She wanted to go to college to earn her cosmetology degree and maybe with a minor in dance, if that was even possible...

Light auburn hair that spilled gracefully past her shoulders had been replaced by a red two shades darker, the tips of her hair now just brushing the top of her shoulders. Her bangs had been cut side swept and she'd dyed them a light blonde color. It had took hours and unfortunately Spinner had to see her with her head all wrapped up in foil and what have you, which gave her yet another reason to dislike the kid.

"Hey, did you want to come over after school today? I can help you catch up if you want." Liberty proposed with a smile. Outside of Manny and Emma, Liberty didn't have many friends and with the three's busy schedule's always conflicting, they hadn't hung out in months.

"I can't today," Jaycee began, screwing off the top to her orange juice, "I need to try to find a job today. Last night Spinner took me to the store _and_ paid for half of Bentley's stuff. It was embarrassing." She took a sip of the orange liquid and grimaced. Orange juice probably wasn't the best choice for a morning drink. "Ew."

"It's okay to need help sometimes, Jace. It's human nature," Liberty reassured, keeping eye contact, "And Spinner? Well, I may have over exaggerated my dislike for him. He can be annoying but he's a really nice guy."

Jaycee countered that statement with an eye roll, "I hate him."

"You just met him." Liberty bit her lip, debating weather or not to tell her about what had happened with Jimmy. She had to had heard it by now, there were still some students at Degrassi who refused to even look him in the eye.

...

The bell rang out loudly, snapping Jaycee out of her thoughts and back into the oh so exciting world of Media Immersion. Mr. Simpson was finishing up his lecture about... well, Jaycee wasn't quite sure what he'd been lecturing about. She wouldn't understand it if she did pay any attention. Computers weren't her thing, she could barley work her iPod.

Thankfully Liberty had been in that period with her, making it all the more bearable. They talked a lot, Liberty had even let her copy her notes for an a test she'd arrived too late to study for.

Liberty stood up, chair rolling back into the next row of computer desks behind her. "Did you wanna eat in the cafeteria today?"

Jayce shrugged, tucking her too long bangs behind her ear and out of her eye sight. She quickly stood up, throwing her Volcom pull over over her head. She leaned down to grab her backpack and slung it lazily over her shoulder, "Do you wanna just go out to eat?"

"Yeah, alright. Who wants to eat genetically modified potatoes anyway?"

Jacyee gave her a small smile and the two took off down the crowded, locker filled walls of Degrassi in unison, discussing close possible fast food options for lunch as they did. Jaycee pulled out her cell phone, quickly punching in the number of the woman who'd been looking after her son.

Spinner and Jimmy had been discussing their own lunch plans as well, their conversation falling silent as Liberty and Jaycee bounced pass them. "That new girl? I heard she has a kid." Jimmy started, jabbing his hand in the direction of the red head balancing conservation between Liberty and whomever she was on the phone with, "I heard she doesn't know who the baby daddy is either."

Spinner glanced down at Jimmy and nodded in confirmation, "Yeah, she's gotta eight month old named Bentley," Jimmy passed Spinner an odd look, wondering how in the wide world of sports Spinner had obtained the information as fact.

"I gave her a ride to his day care and to the store yesterday. Her car wouldn't start, not a big deal. And yeah, she does know who the dad is. She didn't tell me much about him but the dude sounds like a real Mormon."

"Moron, Spin, Moron." Jimmy corrected with a laugh and a head shake.

"Yeah, whatever dude. Her mom called when I dropped her off, she thought I couldn't hear the conversation but she was saying some shit about her mom dropped her into this crappy hotel."

"She's pretty hot for a Mom," Jay's voice rose from the distance, approaching Spinner and Jimmy.

"I'm gonna bounce, later man." Jimmy had never liked Jay from the beginning. Everyone knew he was bad news but of course, Spinner was idiotic enough to befriend him. He'd lost a lot of respect for Spinner when he started hanging out with him, a _lot._ It was Jay's fault he was in stuck in the wheelchair, his fault he'd never reach his dream of playing in the NBA. He was on his way, scouters would come from far and wide to see Jimmy Brooks play but now? Now that would never happen, all because of Jay Hogart.

"Dude, don't talk about her like that." Jay gave Spinner an amused look, punching him playfully in the arm.

"Dude, Spin, look at her! She's a total MILF, tell me you wouldn't wanna hit that, man!"

Spinner rolled his eyes, "Dude, you're a total idiot."

...

Jaycee sighed, pulling up to a small restaurant. People had been coming in and out like crazy, clearly it had been one of the more popular restaurants in Toronto. The Dot. The Dot. . where had she heard that name before?

She drew in a deep breath of confidence. She'd never had a waitressing job before, or any job really. "Ready to get Mom a job?" She said, pulling her son out of his car seat and balancing him on her hip. The plan was to sit, speak to a manager and act as sweetly as she could, ready to pull the 'I'm a teenage Mom' card at anytime.

Was it wrong of her to use her son as an application? Maybe, but how else was she really going to get a job? She had no experience, no special skills, all she had was a son. At eighteen. . .yeah, people would hire a teen mom especially if her son was with her at the impromptu interview.

The tiny bell dinged as she stepped in, people staring point blank as she paced into the busy diner, son clutched tight. She sat on the bar stools at the counter up front, placing Bentley on her lap as she waited for somebody, anybody to assist her.

"Jaycee? Is that you?" A familiar voice called from behind her. She turned around, face falling flat when she saw it was the blonde headed pain in her ass that had addressed her. He had a tray full of food in one hand, a tray of drinks in the other. Great, lovely, fantastic. _Well, maybe he can help me get a job, too. _

She could overhead Spin's voice, speaking to the customers to match what order and drink they had had. 'Thank you, it looks delicious.' She hear from afar. Spinner graciously smiled and cracked a small joke before departing to the counter. "Did you and baby B come to see me? How nice of you!" Jaycee's eyes rolled around at his joke. Hello, Mister I Have A Huge Ego..

"Don't flatter yourself, I need to talk to your manager. I need a job."

...

"So you come walking in here, no application, in your street clothes and expect me to give you a job?"

Jaycee nodded with a friendly smile, "Yeah, pretty much." She studied the hardened man closely. He looked like someone who made his living as a boss by intimidation, with a mean scowl and less than constructive criticism. Or at least he tried to, Jaycee guessed he was a softie at heart. "Here, I'll get you an application, fill out then come t-"

"What the hell for? Do you really need an application to tell me if your going to hire me or not? I'm here now, ask me the questions you need to."

A man in his mid to late twenties emerged from the back to witness this spectacle, keeping his eyes on Jaycee the whole time. With his bad hair do and unshaven face, he looked like he was about thirty something. He smiled wide, showing off his terribly crooked teeth.

"Yeah, Ruben, what the hell for? She'd be the perfect addition to the Dot crew and look she brought her little brother with her." He was hitting on her. Or at least, attempting to. It made Jaycee sick and she spoke with raised eyebrows.

"Do really need to be involved with this? I'm eighteen, dude. What are you, like forty?" She scoffed, dismissing him with a deadly look. "And this isn't my brother, he's my son."

Ruben chuckled at the young man, Zach, who looked extremely disheartened. "You got spunk, kid. I like that. Do you have any experience?"

"Again, what the hell for? I know you've hired plenty of kids without an 'experience' before and they did just fine. No, I don't but I've been waited on thousands of times and the job just doesn't look that hard. And anyway, I'm a fast learner."

This time it was Spinner who approached the counter, throwing the cleaning rag over his shoulder. He rested his elbows on the counter, an amused smile forming on his round face. "Oh don't let me interrupt,"

"Gavin," Ruben spat, giving Gavin a once over.

Spinner simply shrugged, "Hey my tables are satisfied right now. She's right though, Ruben. You're gonna look at the application once, think about it, pretend to think about it but we _all_ know your going to hire her."

"Gavin unless you want her to take your spot, I'd suggest you get back to work. **Now.**"

"Only tryin' to help you out, man."

Ruben returned his hard gaze to Jaycee, who gave a cheeky smile.

"Look, Ruben, I know you have plenty of other people out for this job but how many of them really need it? I'm a single, teenage mom living out of a hotel. I _need_ this job."

Ruben exhaled forcefully. How could he say no after that? He brought a large hand up to massage his temples, a girl that strong willed busing tables? This could be trouble but he was understaffed and it would take another week to interview every single person who put in an application..."You put me in a tough spot here, kid. B-"

Jaycee let out a squeak of excitement, bouncing Bentley on her leg, "Great so how's tomorrow after school? Oh, actually, I can drop him off at day care, then come back. Then I can learn the everything I need to know and get started."

Ruben's hand dropped, searching for the right words to say. Jaycee took the momentary pause as a 'yes', and hopped off the bar stool.

"Alright I'll be back in like, twenty minutes." She smiled a huge smile, grabbing her car keys off the counter. She walked with a skip in her step as she made her way to the car.

Ruben sat bamboozled. Guess she was hired.

...

Jaycee sighed irritably, tapping the order pad with the clicker on top the click-able pen.

"I think we need another minute to decide."

Jaycee bit down on her lower lip, refraining from all the nasty comments that could come out of her mouth. Instead, she drew a deep breath to regain composure, "Look, if I walk away from this table I'm not coming back for another thirty minutes. We have burgers and salad, how hard can it really be to decide?"

The group of dinner guests looked at her and around at each other in astonishment. Jaycee raised an eyebrow, jutting her hip out and placing her pen hand on it. "So you want me to come back thirty minutes from now? Alright."

The pretty brunette girl started to laugh daintily and soon the whole table of daters joined in with her. They all thought she was joking. She wasn't joking. "You know, I actually think I'm ready. I think I'll have a garden salad with fat free ranch and a diet soda." She sounded sure of her order.

"Are you serious? You know diet is worse for you than regular soda right? Fat free dressing? Come on, you're like what? Twenty one, twenty two? Live a little, you can work some real dressing off in an hour."

More laughter arose from the gorgeous couples while the rest proceeded with their orders. "I'll have your drinks in just a second." Jaycee gave the group a small smirk.

Minutes later, Jaycee came back, palm spread wide to balance the drink tray on her hand. The diet had lemon and that's about all she knew about who had what. She lowered the drinks to her eye level, placing the drinks in front of the couples. She threw a couple straws in the middle of the table.

One young man dipped his straw into his soda, taking a small sip. His nose wrinkled up in disgust, "Ma'am, I had the Dr. Pepper." The group nodded in agreement and spoke up for themselves.

"Yeah I didn't have the diet but this is diet."

Jaycee flashed an 'I could care less' look to the lot of them, "And I'm supposed to remember that? Figure it out yourselves!"

They'd all broke out in laughter, and Jaycee smiled triumphantly until Spinner had stepped in front of her, "I'm going to steal her for just one little second, alright?" They nodded with straight faces. Jaycee made them laugh so much, their cheeks had begun to hurt. Spinner grabbed her gently by the elbow to pull her aside. "Dude, what the hell is that? Are you trying to get canned your first shift?" He had a serious look painted on his strong features this time, which Jaycee raised her eyebrows at.

"Trying to do my job, if you would pay attention," she crossed her arms to further prove a point she thought she had, "Besides, they like it. They think I'm joking. And I am, sort of.."

Spinner shook his head, placing his hand on her back, which Jaycee was quick to step away from. "Yeah, well not everyone you wait on is going to think that so cool it, alright?"

...

Two hours of her shift had passed and she was exhausted. She was picking things up quickly, as promised, and though Spinner had managed to put a damper on her version of fun she was enjoying this job. If being a waitress didn't turn her back into a people person, all hope would be truly lost for this girl.

"Jaycee," Ruben barked, causing her the hand she'd been wiping the table with to stop as he did. "Take your break."

She nodded, tossing the rag onto the empty counter top. Turns out, bar stools and a counter weren't as popular as they'd been in the past. She placed a hand on the small of her achy back, not even the supportive cushioning of her easy tone shoes hadn't managed to keep her body pain free. She kept her hand there as she made her way to the back of the Dot, the position instantly talking her back to her pregnancy days without the cute pregnant waddle most pregnant woman had.

Liberty had kindly volunteered to watch Bentley until her shift ended. She figured she'd shoot her a text and see how she was doing with her little monster. She whipped out her phone from the pockets of her work jeans, punching in Liberty's number.

**Hey Libs, it's Jace. :) how's my little monster doing?**

She kept her phone in one hand and reached into her apron with the other, fishing for a cigarette and her lighter. Jaycee didn't smoke while she was pregnant and she hadn't planned on starting up again after baby had been born but smoking was a hard habit to break when you've been doing it from the age of thirteen. She probably would have quit had it not been for Bentley's father, he refused to quit but Jaycee never let him, or herself for that matter, smoke in front of their child.

She brought the cigarette up to her lips and closed her hand around the lighter to avoid the nasty wind blowing the flame out. The fresh taste of menthol flooded her sensations within the first drag. She savored the minty taste in her mouth for a moment before exhaling the smoke. Cancer never tasted so good.

The phone vibrated in her hand, she read the text from the external screen rather than flipping the phone open to view the text on the horizontal screen. It was quite hard to do with a smoke in your hand.

**he's doing fine. i told you i can handle this! i just gave him a bottle and now he's snuggling up with me on my bed. :) he's such a little stud!**

Jaycee smiled fondly at the text. She didn't mean to brag but her little guy **was** a stud and he would surely grow into quiet the heart throb. She raised her cigarette to her lips to take another drag.

"You shouldn't smoke, you know. It's bad for you and Bentley." Spinner spoke up, pushing his way around her with a bag of trash big enough to burst through the bottom at any second.

"I don't smoke in front of my kid, okay? And I'm really supposed to listen to you, the kid who got his best friend shot and paralyzed? She snapped, shooting him a venomous look. "Yeah, everyone at Degrassi is telling me to stay the hell away from you."

The look on his face, Jaycee couldn't begin to describe. She'd gone too far.

_**Why do I say the things I say? **_

He dropped the bag of trash and sent his foot flying into the aluminum trash can in a fit of anger. All he tried to do was be nice to her, be her friend and help her out and she pulls that card? Fuck her, then. The can landed in the distance with a bang but Spinner didn't stick around to hear or see. He stormed into the small kitchen of the Dot, tossing his apron to the ground. His shift was over, anyway. Even if it wasn't he would have still walked out. He didn't have to deal with that shit, especially from a girl who had been stupid enough to get herself knocked up at seventeen.

She felt bad, really, really bad. Sincerely bad. She shouldn't have said that, why was she so stupid? She did find Spinner to be annoying and much too abrasive but he didn't deserve to be hit in the face when he was already down. He'd helped her out so much that last couple days, without any reason to do so besides he was a nice person. She was an idiot.

She tossed the cigarette onto the ground and stomped on it, kicking the pavement a few good times to rid herself of the anger from that stupid decision. All she could do now was go in and finish her shift. She would discuss it with Liberty when she went to pick up Bentley.

...

"Not bad for a first timer," Ruben laughed heartily, counting Jaycee's share of tips from the night. He placed a stack of bills into her hand. "Keep up like this kid and you'll have money coming out your ears."

"Thanks," She smiled, spreading the money out like playing cards in her small hands. Nearly $60 in tips. "Oh, my god." She whispered to herself, she'd never dreamed it possible to make so much in as little as five hours.

She would give it all back though, happily, if it meant she could take back what she said to Spinner. Yes, Jaycee could be less than pleasant at times but she'd never spoken to the people she truly hated that way. He didn't do anything to deserve it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

The anticipation of class to be over was killing her. She was going to apologize to him today. The thought made her skiddish after seeing his deserved outburst at The Dot last night. This boy was capable of using Jaycee's face as a punching bag. No, Spinner seemed gentle. He would never lay his hands on a girl that way but if he was the type to hit a lady, he would have socked the shit out of her last night.

She kept her gaze fastened on the back of his head, she was sure that he felt her staring at him. Liberty propped her book up and hid her head in it, leaning over to jab Jaycee with her pencil. "It's okay, Jace. Just go apologize to him like you rehearsed. He's an understanding guy, he won't hold it against you."

Jaycee mimicked Liberty's actions, "I can't. He won't ever talk to me again, as much as I would enjoy that. He hates me."

Liberty shook her head reassuringly, "No, he doesn't. Suck it up and apologize to him. Find him after class and tell him what you told me last night."

Maybe Liberty was right. No-Liberty _was_ right, she had to apologize. She could appreciate the kind of friend Liberty was trying to so hard to be to her, the friend who would make her a better person, the friend who would talk her out of stupid decisions, the friend who'd make her keep her mouth shut. The kind of friend she could have used a long, long time ago.

"I feel so bad, Libs. I've never said anything that mean before in my life! I don't even talk to Bentley's father that way and he deserves it more than anyone in this world. I can't do, Liberty, I can't. He won't listen."

"How do you know until you try? Practice with me, pretend I'm Spinner," she cleared her throat quietly, "Jaycee, you owe me an apology from last night." Her voice took on her imitation of Spinner's.

Jaycee raised one eye brow, "I'm _not_ pretending anything. And this is so not helping."

"Ahem," Mrs. Kwan shot the two an annoyed look, hands folded over her chest in that typical teacherly way, "Ladies, anything you'd like to share with the class?"

"No, sorry Mrs. Kwan."

"Before the bell rings I want to remind you all that-" The shrill cry of the bell sounded, causing Kwan to raise her voice to the students, "the questions on chapter twelve are do tomorrow! No exceptions!"

Jaycee used her arm to shove all her belongings in her bag with one swift movement, "I'll catch up to you later, I have to do some serious damage control to do. Spin, wait!" She stood up too quickly, causing the chair to topple back as she did. Her book bag was left to drag behind her as she took after the boy with lightening speed.

"Spinner, wait up." Jaycee picked up her pace, keeping up with the boys long strides incredibly well.

Spinner carried on, ignoring the red heads cries for him. She was seriously trying to talk to him? He wondered what else she had to say to him, like that spirit crushing comment last night hadn't been enough!

"Spin, please, stop. I have to talk to you. _**Gavin!**_" She was practically yelling before he stopped, whirling around to face her. The same hurt, angry look had been plastered on his face from last night.

"Are you sure, Jaycee? You aren't afraid I might get you shot, too?" She deserved that. She also deserved for him to turn around and continue his direct route to his next class. Jaycee had managed to snag him by the elbow, using what strength she had in her petite framed body to turn him around and make him face her. "You're gonna make me late, let go."

"Yeah I'm going to be late too if you don't listen to me. I just need two minutes," she pleaded, trying so hard to keep her grasp on his strong forearm. "Please, just listen to me." Spinner gave out a reluctant sigh, pressing his back into the wall of lockers behind him. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a strong look urging her to continue on. "Spinner, I'm sorry. What I said yesterday was totally out of line. You've been nothing but nice to me this whole time and I shouldn't have said that. I feel really bad, I'm sorry okay?" She exhaled forcefully. She had never been good at apologizing and her words had spilled out of her mouth like word vomit; messy, jumbled and quick.

He'd never expected anybody to apologize for saying nasty things about what was essentially Jay's doing. He stood there for a moment, processing the words she spoke before he pushed himself off the lockers, encircling his arms around the girl and bringing her tiny body into his for a strong hug. He buried his face in her soft red hair, whispering a small thank you into her ear.

The motion was swift and quick, one that Jaycee instinctively tried to pull away from. She refrained herself, slowly wrapping her arms around his body, taking in his scent. It'd been a long time since anyone had hugged her, since before Bentley had been born. She needed it, weather it had been from Liberty or Spinner.

He broke free from a hug, a dorky sideways smile on his face. He kept his arm around her shoulder, walking her to her next class though he was late for his own.

Maybe having friends wasn't such a bad thing after all.

**A/N: Yeahh, sorry for such a short chapter. To be honest, I couldn't think of any more to continue it but there you go. No relationship yet, though. If that's what you were thinking. ;)**


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